Keith’s – Burger Sauce
Bitter: 🟡🟡🟡🟡○
Salty: 🟡🟡○○○
Sour/Tangy:🟡🟡🟡○○
Sweet: 🟡🟡○○○
Umami: 🟡🟡🟡○○
Heat: 🟡○○○○○○○○○
Quick Flavor Notes: Smoky, Rich, Earthy, PIquant
Recommended: Yes
Texture: Medium with nice chunks
Ingredients: Distilled vinegar, smoked serranos, smoked jalapenos, smoked onions, smoked onion juice, maple syrup, mustard seeds, figs (figs, rice flour), salt, sun dried tomatoes, horseradish, garlic, garlic scapes, black pepper
After previously trying Keith’s Taco Sauce and Keith’s Chicken Sauce it was time to open up the final of the trio from Keith Habersberger of the Try Guys (though he has now released a steak sauce and a lasagna sauce that I’ll have to pick up at some point). This one took a while for me to get to because I have a certain disdain for a trend amongst a lot of food YouTubers lately for “burger sauces” that end up being mostly ketchup and mayo (something I blame primarily on Joshua Weissman). Those often end up being slathered on “smash burgers” that are nothing more than meat, American cheese, and the sauce, another trend I very much dislike. For me a great burger has to be grilled over an actual fire, preferably charcoal or wood, and it has to have lots of vegetables – a big slice of raw onion, tomato, dill pickles (never sweet), and some good lettuce (not iceberg) along with a good sharp cheddar, muenster, swiss, or other nice strong cheese. Regardless, I think my internal dislike of those trends made me react negatively to even looking at this sauce for too long.
Like the other Keith’s sauces this one is made by Butterfly Bakery of Vermont which would have eased my misgivings about a burger sauce sauce in general. Once I actually looked at the ingredients I was intrigued. No mayo or ketchup to be seen, but instead a sauce that looks like it leans heavily into smokey, piquant, and umami flavors. While Butterfly Bakery of Vermont has sauces involving smoked onions, smoked serranos, and smoked jalapenos I don’t believe I’ve ever seen them release a sauce with all of those under their own brand. Keith’s Burger Sauce has all three plus smoked onion juice. Burgers need mustard and Keith’s Burger Sauce includes real mustard seeds, something I love as the texture of the seeds is always more pleasing than a finely ground prepared mustard. This sauce ups the piquancy by also including horseradish, not something I’ve tried on a burger before but an addition I now find intriguing. In addition to the (smoked) onions this also has both garlic scapes, a perennial favorite in sauces made by Butterfly Bakery of Vermont, plus actual garlic, something I don’t believe I’ve seen in a sauce produced by them before. Sun dried tomatoes are natural sources of umami and richness both of which are then supported by figs, not something I think I’ve seen in a hot sauce before, but which have a natural jammy earthy complex flavor that I could see going beautifully with everything else.
Opening up the bottle the smoky aroma is prominent in this sauce. Texturally I love that Keith’s Burger Sauce is very chunky. There are chewy bits of sun dried tomato and perhaps smoked onion, peppers, and figs all in the mix. That smoke is at the forefront of the flavor profile as well. Butterfly Bakery of Vermont typically uses maple wood for smoking and I believe that’s what’s being used here as while prominent the smoke flavor isn’t overpowering. The wave after the smoke is a complex combination of rich umami sun dried tomato flavor, piquancy from the mustard along with the natural bitterness of mustard seed mixing with the slight bitterness from the smoked onions and the horseradish, the earthy vegetal flavor of the smoked peppers, and the pungency of the garlic and black pepper. Keith’s Burger Sauce hits a lot of different notes at once yet somehow they all blend together. As the sauce is pretty chunky the flavor also changes some as you chew. Get a mustard seed and you get a pop of mustard, get a chunk of sun dried tomato and that flavor comes more to the forefront. While this sauce does have maple syrup plus the figs, a sweet fruit, the overall presentation is almost completely savory. Any sweetness in this sauce is so subtle it mainly serves to balance out the more bitter elements of the smoke, horseradish, and mustard. Keith’s Burger Sauce leans earthier than bright and has enough going on in it that it’s not vinegar forward but it does still have a solid amount of tang. Heat level is quite mild, neither jalapenos nor serranos being particularly spicy peppers, and with so much else going on in the sauce that heat is further diluted.
With this being called a burger sauce the first thing I had to try it with was, of course, a burger. In fact I tried it with two – one from fast food and one homemade. I went with a Burger King Whopper as, at least in my opinion, it’s the best of the fast food burgers out there as it’s one of the few that does have at least a hint of grilled flavor. The smokiness of the sauce was very appealing with it and enhanced that flame-broiled flavor to make it taste closer to having been cooked on an actual grill. I also liked how the mustard and bitter elements helped offset the sweetness of the ketchup. For my homemade burger I grilled it on my Weber kettle as I like with sharp cheddar, a super thick slice of onion, pickles, and a big slice of tomato. Again I found this sauce to be a great companion to it and really enjoyed the richer umami flavors and how they added contrast to the aggressive bite of the raw onion and the sweetness of the raw tomato. I also tried this with macaroni and cheese, something that always needs hot sauce in my opinion, and found it to be one of the better hot sauces for kicking it up. The tanginess of this sauce came out more when not competing with already tangy burger elements and helped cut through the richness and both smoke and tomato are always great combinations with cheese.
As often happens the sauce that I put off for way too long ended up being one of my favorites, and as far as the Keith’s line of sauces go I enjoy this one more than his Taco Sauce or his Chicken Sauce, though I did find those tasty as well. If you’re looking for a unique hot sauce that happens to go great with burgers (plus many other things) this is definitely one to check out, and one that gets my recommendation. This sauce is also all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors or thickeners.
